Poquonnock Bridge Residents Approve Half of Requested Funds

Groton residents in the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District crowded into a meeting to vote against a budget that otherwise would have raised their taxes 39 percent.  

The board proposed a $6.29 million budget for the troubled district but at the end of the night, residents approved only $3.5 million and replaced three board members, according to a report in The Day newspaper.  

President Chris Clark, a paid firefighter in Waterford, Kevin Czapla, also a career firefighter; and Tom Wimler, chief of Durham Emergency Medical Service Management were not re-elected. They were replaced by Gary Bertman, owner of Family Care in New London; Kenneth Richards III, a life member of Mystic River Ambulance and Deb Monteiro, a former Groton town councilor.   

Alan Ackley, Randy Ackley, Peter Legnos, Ron Yuhas, Nancy Beckwith and Tom Santacroce were re-elected.  

Fire district board members were told by an auditor last month that they are not meeting their obligations, which prompted them to consider making reductions in fire service, like not renew a contract on a ladder truck, relinquish responsibility of fire box alarms to an alarm service and convert the Fort Hill station to a volunteer department.  

According to The Day, Monteiro proposed a $5.58 budget that “would have provided money to recognize the firefighters' contact and pay salaries back to July 2012; fix the district's ladder truck; keep the fire box alarm system; remove funding for 10 volunteers at the Fort Hill station; bring the bill for hydrant rentals current; reduce funding for attorneys fees by $60,000; and contribute $250,000 to the fund for health and life insurance for retired firefighters and their spouses.”

Firefighters said to reporters at The Day that the $3.5 million budget could force the district into bankruptcy. Residents said the district’s finances are out of control.